Today Statens Serum Institut published the overview of countries that meet a series of objective criteria. In continuation of this overview, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark now announces updated travel advice, including which countries will be categorised at a “yellow” or “orange” risk level. The specific travel advice will be published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark on Friday.
The travel advice during the summer for the EU and Schengen countries, as well as the UK, will be continuously updated on the basis of several parameters. One important element in these assessments will be the recently published overview from Statens Serum Institut (Danish), which categorises countries as “open countries” or “quarantine countries” according to objective criteria relating to the incidence of new infections and national testing regime.
However, this is just one of the parameters assessed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark prior to updating the travel advice. Another factor is whether a country has significant entry restrictions and quarantine rules for incoming Danish travellers. In these cases, the travel advice for the country will remain orange even if the country is otherwise classified as “open” in the overview from Statens Serum Institut.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod says:
“Today is a good day. Today’s easing of the travel advice shows that Denmark and most of Europe are now in a significantly better place than we had dared hope just a short time ago. But the new travel advice map also shows quite clearly how varied the situation remains. There are still pockets with high rates of new infections, and some countries still have entry restrictions. The coronavirus crisis is not over yet in Europe. It is important to take the proper precautions and observe health and hygiene guidelines while travelling.
“Although we all could probably use a little holiday, we can’t leave our good common sense back home. Open countries are still only “yellow”, which means that you still have to be extra cautious when travelling. Our goal is to ensure that Danes are able to travel, but that the coronavirus is not.”
Future updates of the travel advice
Statens Serum Institut will issue updated overviews of “open countries” and “quarantine countries” every Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Immediately thereafter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark will update the travel advice if any changes are necessary. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark will also continuously update the travel advice in the event of changes to countries’ entry restrictions or quarantine rules.
The current travel advice for a given country can be found here (Danish).
When choosing to travel to a country categorised as “yellow”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark recommends extra caution and observance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s advice on travel during the COVID-19 pandemic (Danish).
It is also recommended to stay up to date on developments in the spread of infection, which can vary greatly from region to region. Statens Serum Institut will also issue weekly updated infection statistics at the regional level for most EU and Schengen countries, as well as the UK. Travellers in regions where the infection rate is above 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week are advised to get tested upon their return to Denmark. The list of regions with more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week can be found at the SSI website.
The Danish embassies have established special coronavirus websites for their respective countries containing information about the consequences of coronavirus/COVID-19 for Danish travellers and residents. These websites should be used to stay up to date on local restrictions in the country of travel. All travellers are also advised to register on Danskerlisten, the list of Danes abroad, using the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s “Rejseklar” app. Persons registered on Danskerlisten will be notified in the event of changes to the travel advice.
Travellers should also stay up to date via the local authorities, local media and their travel agency.
This week’s changes in the travel advice for the EU and Schengen countries, as well as the UK
Based on the latest overview from Statens Serum Institut, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s overall assessment of the situation in the given country, the following countries will be re-categorised as “yellow” risk level in the travel advice:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.
The following countries will remain “orange” due to the incidence of new infections or local entry restrictions and significant quarantine requirements:
Ireland, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK.
When a country is classified as “orange”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark advises against all non-essential travel to the country. However, Malta has stated that they will lift their entry restrictions from 1 July. When that happens the travel advice for the country will be changed to yellow.
A special mechanism applies for the Nordic countries. When a Nordic country does not meet the objective criteria for categorisation as “open”, the country will instead be subject to a regional scheme, where individual regions of the country can “open” if they meet the criterion on rate of new infections per week. This mechanism currently applies to Sweden. Therefore, the travel advice for Sweden will be orange, with the exception of the Västerbotten region.
The travel advice for the above-mentioned countries will be published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s website on Friday, 26 June 2020.
There will not be issued press releases on updates to the travel advice, but the current travel advice for a given country can always be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark here (Danish). We advise that travellers always check the travel advice before planning a trip.
Travel advice outside of the EU and Schengen countries plus the UK
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark currently advises against all non-essential travel to the rest of the world until 31 August.
A model is currently under development for re-opening for certain third countries that have a reasonable incidence of new infections, a sufficiently developed testing regime, reliable reporting, and where the general handling of the pandemic is comparable with the efforts of European countries. Any easing of the travel advice will also require that the country in question does not have significant entry restrictions for Danish travellers.
Travel in the Danish Realm
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark does not prepare travel advice for the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but travel to the Faroe Islands and Greenland is open. Read more about the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities’ rules on testing, quarantine, etc. in connection with entry at www.corona.fo and www.nun.gl.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark press desk: pressevagten@um.dk
